Mardi de Veuve Alexis is a California abstract artist born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area. While she grew up in a family of artists, she did not begin seriously studying art and design until a temporary move to Alexandria, VA in the 1980s, where she took classes at the Torpedo Factory Art Center and in Washington D.C. at the Corcoran School of Art. Upon returning to California, she studied at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) at the School of Architecture and Interior Design. Mardi has been painting professionally for a more than a decade, experimenting with combinations of various media and textural effects, mixing charcoal, ink, pastel, acrylics and collage. Her current body of work is inspired by urbanism and street art incorporating contemporary modes of communication like graffiti in an urban environment. A frequent international traveller, her work is inspired by cultural diversity and her interpretation of the human condition and the global environment. Mardi’s paintings and drawings have been shown and collected throughout California, Texas, Stockholm, Sweden; Croatia; Belgrade, Serbia; and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Collage, mixed media, line and textural effects characterize Mardi’s current body of work on canvas, panel and paper that is largely focused on urbanism and aerial landscapes. She is a member of Los Angeles Art Association; the Artist Council of the Palm Springs Art Museum; a member of the Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council; a member of the La Quinta Arts Foundation, an active Member of Women Painters West and an Exhibiting Member of California Art League, of the Joshua Tree Art Gallery and Gallery 62. Mardi is currently represented by the Izen Miller Gallery on El Paseo in Palm Desert, California.

Artist Statement

Mardi de Veuve Alexis - Artist StatementMy current body of work is inspired by an evolving local urban environment, urbanization as a condition, and contemporary culture. Working for the past three years from my Venice, CA studio, I was viscerally impacted by the changing neighborhood and demographics: There is the noise and energy of new construction. Resulting structures are rising vertically to unexpected new heights, marginalizing once amply sun lit creative spaces. Graffiti of all shapes and sizes most often depicted on the grey backdrop of concrete, has become rampant as an exciting urban art form communicating an evolving cultural diversity. This is change and evolution, disturbing and exciting at the same time.

As an abstract artist, I typically communicate a theme and tonal palette with pattern, mark making, layering and textural effects through mixed media and collage. I strive to communicate beauty and elements of design readily visible in virtually all aspects of everyday life, if only we look. As far as process goes, I allow myself the freedom to express without judgment or boundaries. Thoughts and ideas spill out on canvas, panel or paper. Drawings, layered patterns, shapes, colors and textures are merged, transformed and energized with paint, stained papers or newsprint, mylar and other materials. Although passionate about color, I often stick to a neutral palette, working with velvety black charcoal, inks, gouache and acrylic paints, with just an occasional surprise of pigment.